MEANING
1. Something added to improve or complete an existing thing; as a verb, provide that addition.
2. A product taken to add nutrients or other needed substances to the diet.
Use it for
adding evidence without replacing the original account; providing information omitted from the main discussion; distinguishing an addition from a substituteSpecifies additional support without implying that it replaces the original material or resolves its weaknesses. Academic functions: Evidence, Research / Methodology.
Words that belong together
- supplement the evidence
- supplement the analysis
- a supplement to the report
On the page
The interviews supplement the administrative data but do not correct every gap in their coverage.
A supplement to the report explains the coding decisions that the main text could only outline.
The review distinguishes dietary supplements from the participants’ ordinary food intake.
The study’s use of a supplement does not by itself show that the participants had a deficiency.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- supplement
- Past tense
- supplemented
- Past participle
- supplemented
- Present participle
- supplementing
Usage notes
Count noun: supplement, supplements. Transitive verb: supplements, supplemented, supplemented, supplementing. Supplemental and supplementary are related forms, not separate new entries here. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.